Peru snubs Royal Navy frigate in solidarity with Argentina over Falklands

Peru has cancelled a planned visit by a Royal Navy frigate in solidarity with Argentina over the disputed Falkland Islands.

HMS Montrose had been due to visit Peru this week, but the country’s government has now withdrawn its welcome.

Peruvian foreign minister Rafael Roncagliolo said the decision was taken in light of Lima’s commitments under the framework of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur).

HMS Montrose will not be allowed to visit Peru (Picture: EPA)

‘This decision has been taken in the spirit of Latin American solidarity commitments undertaken in the framework of Unasur with regard to the legitimate rights of Argentina in the sovereignty dispute over the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands and the surrounding waters,’ he told the Peru-based news agency Andina.

The UK Foreign Office questioned why Peruvian officials did not inform them of their decision when minister Jeremy Browne visited the South American country last week.

‘HMS Montrose was scheduled to make a short visit to Peru as part of a routine deployment to the region,’ a spokesman said.

‘This was agreed as an act of friendship and cooperation between Peru and the UK.

‘Ship visits are a sovereign decision for states, but we regret that Peru has revoked its previous agreement to this visit.

‘This is despite the Peruvian government having had the opportunity on Friday to raise any concerns it had about this agreed cooperation.’

Tensions over the Falkland Islands between Argentina and the UK have come to the fore repeatedly as both countries prepare to mark the 30th anniversary of the war for control of the islands, which Buenos Aires calls Las Malvinas.

Argentina has received the backing of celebrities such as Roger Waters, Sean Penn and Morrissey as its president Cristina Kirchner de Fernandez pledged to make a formal complaint to the United Nations over what she called the ‘militarisation’ of the dispute following the deployment of the Duke of Cambridge to the South Atlantic as an RAF search and rescue pilot.

But the UK responded with accusations of colonialism in kind, with David Cameron saying the British government backed the Falkland Islanders’ right to self-determination.